100 Business Days Out: Day 67 - Taking Over

AS you have read, Patti and I are here in Rhode Island and are in our new house for the summer. Patti has done an outstanding job of coordinating and managing the building of the house from 3000 miles away. She made the team of the architects and the general contractor a great one and the results are evident and recognizable in the house. Since we have been on the ground here for a couple of weeks she has turned over the last details of the punch list and the landscaping to me and I have been all over them to complete the job ASAP so we can comply with the noise ordinances of the community. It's a silly, unenforceable ordinance about not making construction noise in the summer (July 1 - Labor Day) but nonetheless, we want to comply. God is in the details and I want the details to finish strong on this job but it's been very hard to bring the last details over the finish line. Our landscaper is great but he's too busy. Our stone mason is an awesome artisan but doesn't finish particulary strong and will say he will be here on one day and then not show. And our driveway/paving got got hit by a drunk driver and was laid up in the hospital for three weeks. And all I want is to finish my landscaping on time. Not to be. So, it's taken all of my influence, leadership and sometimes coercion skills to bring it together. Today we spent time trying to get them all coordinated and hoping that it will all come together tomorrow before the weekend. It's hot and muggy here and it's time for this job to be done. And, here I am, the boss, the one paying the bills with no leverage or any true influence to get it done. And when you run out of tools in the toolbox, it can be frustrating to say the least. So, while I used to never let the guys on my team use the word, "hope" (After I read the book, Hope is Not a Method I stopped using the word hope as a way of thinking things would get done), all I can do here right now is "hope". Whew, good thing I don't have to answer to a Board for this one. Then again, I am sure Patti going to ask sometime soon, "Tell me again why I let you take over this project?" :)